Mexico doesn’t often spring to mind as a wine producer, but Lettie Teague in the Wall Street Journal recently visited some wineries in the Baja region: “Although Mexico’s bottlings are rarely seen in the U.S.—the country’s fine-wine industry is quite young—its winemaking dates back to the arrival of the conquistadors, in the 16th century.”
Daily Pour: July 22, 2014
John Lenart at Chicagoist offers practical advice for setting up your own blind tasting with friends. “The only way to fairly assess a wine is to taste it blind. I’m not talking about wearing a blindfold, but rather, just having no knowledge about the wine before tasting it.”
In the Financial Times, Jancis Robinson makes a strong case for Riesling, which she calls her hero: “My hero is, of course, the grape that dares neither speak nor spell its name – Riesling, pronounced Reece-ling and misspelt almost as often as it is mispronounced. ”
“There’s a challenge to testing any relationship between quality and quantity in wine: quantity is easy to measure, but quality is not.” In Palate Press, W. Blake Gray challenges the conventional wisdom about the relationship between low yields and high quality.
Dorothy Gaiter in Grape Collective reflects on how small kindnesses, including simple things like sharing a glass of wine, might make the world a better place, if only for a few minutes.
Daily Pour: July 21, 2014
Eric Asimov at the New York Times discusses this month’s assignment for “Wine School”–Zinfandel. “But as with so many wines, a stylistic shift has occurred with zinfandel, with more producers gravitating toward fresher, nuanced wines.”
Malibu Coast in California will become its own AVA, according to Christy Canterbury MW at WineBusiness.com. “Though Napa set California’s modern wine era in motion, Malibu is no newcomer. The first vineyard was planted there in 1824.”
The UK government has sold off some top Bordeaux vintages to balance its books, according to Chris Mercer at Decanter.
The Associated Press reports that demand for French wine continues to grow in China, while it loses ground elsewhere. “It is on the American market that France is suffering its most worrying decline, achieving only 27 percent of the market by volume in 2013 compared to 36 percent in the year 2000.”
“Bordeaux’s wine routes flow with wine, this week literally.” Wine Spectator reports that 18,000 bottles from St. Emilion were smashed in a trucking accident.
Daily Pour: July 19, 2014
“Not least among the excellent whites pouring forth from Italy is Soave, a name perhaps a little too well known for its own good. In a seemingly perverse twist of reverse snobbism, popular wines that have transcended to generic shorthand, like Sancerre, Soave and pinot grigio, get little respect because of their commercial success.” Eric Asimov at the New York Times is pleasantly surprised by Italian Soave.
Craving a wine vacation? Jameson Fink at Grape Collective takes a look at the Top 10 Wine Travel Destinations around the world.
In Wine Spectator, Robert Camuto takes a closer look at another top wine destination: Provence. “Provence spans a spectrum of terroirs in more than 20 wine appellations, from coastal Bandol and Cassis to the catchall Côtes de Provence to the Southern Rhône.”
As counterfeiting becomes rampant in the wine industry, Elin McCoy at Wine Searcher discusses how wineries are facing the challenge: “Security companies who’ve spent decades devising protections for pharmaceuticals and Gucci handbags are wooing the wine industry with overt and covert high-tech solutions that go way beyond early anti-fraud efforts.”
Daily Pour: July 18, 2014
“American culture being one that craves the easily quantifiable, [Robert Parker’s] final say was, indeed, all of our final say…However, there were issues with the 100 point scale.” In Grape Collective, Michael Woodsmall ponders the future of wine rankings.
But Robert Parker’s shadow continues to loom large, even in the pages of the Wall Street Journal where Will Lyons talks to the man himself: “‘The 100 points is the ultimate controversial thing because there are those who say perfection is impossible to obtain and I am saying that’s a cop-out,’ [Parker] says. ‘If you think this is the very best wine that can be made from this property or this area, why would you not give it a perfect score?'”
“As one winemaker told me, ‘Lodi is the Rodney Dangerfield of wine world: no respect.’ Yet Lodi might be one of the most traditional wine regions in the United States.” Ben Carter at Palate Press heads to Lodi to where he drinks plenty of zinfandel and learns about the Lodi Native Project.
It’s summer, and the rose buzz is stronger than ever. Zachary Sussman writes in Punch: “Wine trends typically either function within the ranks of a small industry elite or achieve mainstream success among everyday drinkers. And while there’s always some element of exchange at play, rarely do the trade and the general public embrace the same thing simultaneously.”
At Wine Searcher, Tom Stevenson recalls the devastating effects of World World I on Champagne, exactly 100 years ago: “By the end of World War I (not that anyone called it that then), almost 40 per cent of Champagne’s vineyards had been destroyed, yet wine was produced every year; but 1914 was the standout.”
A $2.9 billion purchase offer from private equity firm KKR was rejected by Treasury Wine Estates, owner of Penfolds and the world’s second-biggest listed winemaker, reports Bloomberg.
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